News & Press Releases 2013

DENVER — The Statewide Grand Jury indicted nine individuals for targeting distressed homeowners as part of a fraudulent short-sale scheme that allowed the defendants to ultimately defraud the banks and lenders who held the mortgages for the distressed homeowners. The announcement was made today by Colorado Attorney General John Suthers; Ronald Sloan, Director of Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI); Inspector General David Montoya of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-Office of Inspector General (U.S. HUD-OIG); Acting Inspector General Michael P. Stephens of the U.S.

DENVER—The Colorado Court of Appeals today issued its opinion in a case (2012CA2313) in which a group of plaintiffs challenged a decision of the Colorado Attorney General to approve the transaction in which the Colorado Health Foundation sold its interest in several hospitals in the Denver area to HCA-HealthONE. The Court affirmed the trial court judgment dismissing the lawsuit. Unlike the trial court, which dismissed the case as moot, the Court of Appeals held that the plaintiff lacked standing to contest the Attorney General’s approval of this hospital transfer.

DENVER– Colorado Attorney General John Suthers today announced that Colorado will receive approximately $7.7 million dollars from Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: JNJ) in a settlement resolving allegations of illegal off-label marketing activities of the drugs Risperdal and Invega.

DENVER —Colorado Attorney General John Suthers joined 46 states and the District of Columbia today to announce that Connecticut-based Affinion, and its subsidiaries Trilegiant and Webloyalty, will pay a total of more than $30 million to settle allegations that the companies misled consumers into signing up and paying for discount clubs and membership.

DENVER – Joseph A. Smith, Jr., Monitor of the National Mortgage Settlement, today issued new metrics that impose greater oversight over Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, CitiGroup and Wells Fargo under the National Mortgage Settlement. These new metrics are the result of violations that the monitor reported earlier this summer regarding the banks’ compliance with the settlement.

DENVER—Attorney General John Suthers announced today that his Consumer Protection Section filed a civil lawsuit against Tobacco King, a Longmont tobacco store owned by Mr. Sang Leaming for selling a variety of products commonly referred to as “spice.” Leaming and Tobacco King sold spice products without warning consumers that the contents may contain illegal synthetic cannabinoids or other undisclosed, and potentially dangerous, chemicals.

DENVER—Colorado Attorney General John Suthers has written to U.S. Secretary of the Department Agriculture and all members of the Colorado Congressional delegation demanding that the federal government end the sequestration of payments made to western states that are available to rural counties with national forest lands. The funds are owed to the states in lieu of revenue from timber sales on federal lands and help finance rural school programs, roads and wildfire-related education or wildland fire mitigation assistance to homeowners.